Experience, chemistry raises expectations for the Pirates

GILMAN VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW

Bringing the majority of the varsity roster back, including three players who earned All-Eastern Cloverbelt Conference honors, would be reason enough to be optimistic about the Gilman volleyball team’s chances in 2022.

But there’s something more than that building as the new season arrives.

Not only is this one of Gilman’s deepest teams, the Pirates begin the fall with a rare drive and chemistry, according to head coach Janice Komanec, who enters the 10th year in her second stint in that position and 15th season overall.

“They genuinely love playing together, they really do,” Komanec said on Aug. 17 in the midst of the opening week of practice. “This entire group genuinely gets along and has fun together. That’s very exciting. We have talent here, but we have great attitudes. This group is full of girls who are ready to work hard, they want to work hard and they want to reach their goals. They were setting goals this summer before I had to start setting them for them. It’s very exciting.”

The Pirates begin their 2022 journey today, Thursday, by joining Owen-Withee at the Thorp Triangular and then they’ll head to the Prentice Invitational on Saturday before hosting Athens Sept. 1 in a good non-conference matchup at 7:15 p.m. We won’t know until late October, or early November, where it will end up, but this group sees an opportunity to emerge as an Eastern Cloverbelt and WIAA Division 4 sectional contender.

“We’re so excited, especially since it’s our senior year,” said Gracie Tallier, a first-team All-ECC pick and All-State honorable mentionee last fall. “It’s our last chance to do what we want with this group of girls.”

Gilman is coming off a third-place finish in the conference last fall at 5-2 and a first-round exit in the WIAA Division 4 post-season tournament that put them at 12-14 overall. Since then, the Pirates believe they’ve built a foundation that can produce a big jump this fall.

“Everybody has great attitudes,” said senior Ellie Drier, a second-team All-ECC pick in 2021. “Everyone works super hard.”

“We all love playing with each other,” Tallier said. “There’s no drama. We all have a good connection.”

Tallier, Drier and Tatum Weir are the senior core Gilman is built around. Tallier has been the team’s top offensive weapon from the left side the past two years but is an all-around force. Drier leads the defensive effort in the back row and Weir, an All-ECC honorable mentionee last fall, gives the Pirates a major middle presence in the front row. A fourth senior, Tshiya Keepers, is in just her second year of playing volleyball but is an emerging middle as well.

Juniors Bryn Hendricks, another outside hitter, and Jayda Rosemeyer are vying for time and Danielle Mann provides some intriguing options after moving to Gilman over the summer from Rib Lake, where she was a starter last fall.

Then there’s the sophomore class of Abby Chaplinski, Claire Drier, Kenlyn Kroeplin and Kayleigh James that got varying tastes of varsity volleyball last year and comes in more confident and ready to contribute this year.

“The reps that they got, the knowledge that they got from being on the varsity court but also just being around the varsity girls helps a lot,” Komanec said.

Chaplinski put in a solid first year as the team’s setter and only figures to get better. Claire Drier will see an expanded role this year from the right side.

“Everyone is more confident,” Tallier said. “They’re not freshmen anymore.”

“The competition that we have on this varsity court is great because it’s pushing girls to be better,” Komanec said. “They have people who want the same spots as them. But then it also creates better play for us. As we compete (in practice) we’re just getting stronger because we have stronger players.”

“I think everyone has improved,” Keepers said.

In the summer, the on-court improvement came from competing weekly in the Altoona summer league. During offseason contact days, the Pirates hosted a scrimmage session with strong nearby squads from Phillips, Stanley-Boyd and Ladysmith. Several team members attended a team camp at Stanley-Boyd run by Winona State’s volleyball program.

Working together to get better on the court has hopefully strengthened the team’s bond. The Pirates’ captains said age and class doesn’t matter. Everyone is on the same page.

“We all just want to win,” Tallier said. “You can just feel it. Everyone is trying their hardest and I think that’s the biggest thing with this year. It such a small school that we all know each other already, so we already get along. Just playing with (the sophomores) last year too already, it just helps. There’s already the chemistry there.”

Komanec said one of the on-court upgrades fans may notice is the team simply trying to play at a quicker pace. She also expects Gilman to be much improved in the passing department.

“We’re trying to speed up the offense, quicken the passes,” she said. “Our communication is good. It can be even better. Our knowledge is growing with court awareness. We’ve been working a lot on ball control. We’ve been working a lot on our outof- system. Right now, I’m really happy with our outof- system. Every girl on the court can put a great second ball up and they’re all ready to.”

Team mottos have been popular in Gilman in Komanec’s time as coach. She said the seniors came up with this year’s on their own in the off-season with the acronym GET It. Grit, effort and teamwork make up the letters in the acronym.

“I think it’s fitting,” Komanec said. “I think this team is going to build more grit as it goes. Their effort is good. It’s just going to get better. They are definitely on track to be a wellrounded team.”

Komanec said her focus as head coach is keeping her team well prepared for every challenge.

“I have a couple of quotes on the coach’s door,” she said. “One is, if we fail to prepare, we prepare to fail. Another is it’s not the will to win that matters, everybody has that, it’s the will to prepare that matters. One of them is something like is the work you’re putting in today on par with the dreams you have for tomorrow. My goal is to make sure that practices prepare them for everything. But again, the competition in this gym is going to help that.”

The top goal is dethroning five-time Eastern Cloverbelt champion Columbus Catholic, who comes to Gilman in the final match of the league season on Oct. 6. The Dons lost conference Player of the Year Dorci Walker, but Komanec noted they still have plenty of returning talent, most of which has plenty of opportunities to play club ball in the off-season. The Eastern Cloverbelt hosts the end-ofseason crossovers the following week.

“Hopefully conference champs,” Tallier said. “That’s what we want, to have the crossover here.”

From there, the Pirates don’t expect another first-round exit in the post-season.

“Our D4 sectional is always the toughest in the state,” Komanec said. “There might be a better team in a different sectional, but our sectional is full. It’s McDonell, it’s Clear Lake, right now it’s Turtle Lake, it’s us. We want to be in that mix. Come that point in the season, we want to be ready to compete with any of those teams.”